Missed Opportunities Edited
by psychoticbookgirl
Summary: Ian is told that his leukemia will kill him in a week. Well, that was blunt... He decides he'll fix the problem he made four years ago, while on holiday in Korea... Sorta revised! Like two years after it was published! Yay!
1. Chapter 1

**Missed Opportunities**

**(revised)**

* * *

"Ian... I'm sorry," Dr. Milford said solemnly. "There is nothing more I can do. You have six days until..." He trailed off, and looked up at me with real sadness in his eyes. I was grateful for his compassion, but it wouldn't help me. It couldn't help me. I gulped.

"I understand." I whispered. The room seemed to begin slowly turning around me. I took my head into my hands.

Of course I had seen it coming; I'd known for nearly two years that they wouldn't be able to keep me alive forever. Ever since the accident, my body hadn't been working right. When Natalie and I were caught in an explosion several years back, she came out nearly unscathed. From the outside, I appeared healthy as well. Other than a long scar down the side of my face and a few temporary scratches, I was perfectly unhurt.

But inside I was breaking.

I didn't find out until several months after the accident, but the radiation had given me leukemia, and the doctors had tried everything but with no prevail. My hair didn't even fall out from the chemotherapy. In fact, I was ready to rip it out because it was such a painful reminder that I was becoming no worse, but no better either.

Two years of uneventful treatments and dull hospitalization. Two years of loneliness and worry, of living in a cold, sterile hospital room. Occasionally Natalie would visit with tales of her travels and the latest clues and Lucian breakthroughs, but all I really cared about was news of the Cahills- one in particular. I wanted desperately to make amends with her, but couldn't in my condition. I hung on to the fact that she was alive, and that made me feel just slightly better.

I'd changed in those years, away from the luxuries of Kabra mansion, away from the Clue Hunt, away from my sister. I'd grown. After being separated from my family for so long, I could look at the whole situation with a different perspective. The Lucians no longer seemed so glamorously powerful…they seemed unnecessarily vicious. I couldn't believe how I had let myself become such a pawn in their stupid game. Look where it had gotten me…

"Well, what can I do?" I asked. "Since we already know...how it will end...can I leave the hospital? I'd rather die out in the world than in an ugly room."

"It would probably be better for you to stay in the vicinity, but honestly there isn't much else we can do by keeping you here... maybe extend your life for two days, tops. So I suppose you should go and live your last week to the fullest. Have you wanted to do anything that you've been unable to do? Have you any missed opportunities or unfinished business?"

_Missed opportunities... _these words spoke to me. I'd had plenty of regrets, but missed opportunities? I was sure there was something…

_Amy. _

She was a missed opportunity. There were many times when I could have joined her and Dan, but instead I always followed my mother's wishes. Now I was free to make amends...or, I supposed, an even bigger mess.

But I only had six days to live, so it didn't matter if I made any messes! I'd be carefree in heaven!

Or burning in hell...

* * *

**Wull hey thar everyone…**

**Well, I sort of thought this story was a missed opportunity itself. (Not that I'm dying or anything.) So I decided to rewrite it a little, and then maybe add on a teensy bit more. Yeah, it's short (this was originally just a "tester chapter") and it's not great, but I figured that I owed everyone at least _something_. I don't know. I'll get the second chapter up soon, and possibly a third. I really just wanted to fix what I'd started already. Also, the spacing could be weird since I haven't really done this in a while, you know.**

**After this though, I really can't stay. I have kind of a big life. :)**** But so do you all!**

**It's a COCKAMOUSE!?**

"**I look at the floor, and I see it needs sweeping. Still my guitar gently weeps."**


	2. Chapter 2

"Thank you, doctor." I said quietly and stumbled outside into the downpour. Once outside, I ran all the way to a park and sat down on a bench to think. Resting my chin in my hands, I could finally let my tears mingle with the rain.

I began to think about the last time I'd seen Amy. It was one of the most wonderful days of my life, and yet, it was also one of the most terrible.

_Three years previously..._

"Hello, Amy!" greeted Alistair. He helped her out of the car. It was Christmas Eve at the Kabra mansion, and the road in front of the house was full of the cars and limousines of the Kabra's friends and family members. The dark sky was chilly and crisp, and it smelled of pine. The sprawling lawn was coated with a coat of snow from the previous day's storm, and the clouds blocking the stars in the evening air hinted that more snow was soon to come.

"Uncle Alistair!" Dan cried in delight. He ran to his uncle and gave him a fist pound. Alistair walked with them inside to the ballroom.

Amy was in awe of the large party hall. It was the size of the entire floor of their apartment back home, and far more extravagently decorated. There were rich crimson draperies on the windows, and the entire room was trimmed in gold. Everywhere you looked there was gold; the moldings on the wall, the mural on the ceiling, the windows, the tables and chairs along the edge of the room. But despite all of this, Amy thought that the most beautiful things she could see were the people on the dance floor. The women dazzled in exquisite, princess-like ball gowns made with expensive satin and silk. The men wore handsome tuxedoes with shiny shoes.

All of this extravagence intimidated Amy. She felt very plain against all of the loveliness.

Ian didn't think so. He was watching her from across the room. Something about her was intriguing, but he couldn't quite place what it was. Perhaps it was how she was quite pretty in such a natural way, or the humble air she had about her, or the fact that she was so very different- in a good way- from Ian.

He was utterly confused by her, but he liked it.

Amy was very uncomfortable. She didn't see anyone she knew, (Dan and Alistair had disappeared, the Holts were nowhere in sight, and she didn't even _want_ to see Jonah.) or even anyone her age, for that matter. There were mostly wealthy people ranging in years from twenty-five to eighty. She saw no one who would be willing to take a poor fifteen-year-old girl under their wing. She decided to do the only thing that seemed natural for her- sit under a table on the outskirts of the room and read Jane Austen.

Drat, where is she? Ian thought in frustration. He scanned the opposite side of the room, where he'd last spotted her. It was hard to see with all of the guests blocking the view with their infernal ball gowns. But finally he spotted the rustle of a tablecloth that couldn't have been a breeze. _It must be Amy, or her stupid brother_, he thought. Well, he had nothing to lose by checking.

"GAH!" Amy yelped when someone interrupted her reading. "Ian?"

"Who else would it be? May I come join you before someone sees me talking to a table?"

Amy was angry at how much she wanted to say yes. But she gave in anyway. "Oh, fine."

"Thank you." he squished in beside her, a bit too close for Amy's liking. Well, she LIKED being near him, but she hated the fact that she liked it. Ugh, why was he so _confusing_?

"Um... can I ask why exactly you chose to squeeze under this table with me?" Amy asked awkwardly. Her full, tea-length green dress was rather taking up the whole space, and it was very stuffy and cramped.

"I was hoping to talk to you."

"Oh." Amy felt very stupid. "Well, then, talk, I guess."

"Well, first off, the cave in Korea... you must know how terrible I feel about it, do you?"

"Um, no actually, seeing as you actually LEFT me and Dan in a CAVE to DIE. No food, no water, nothing except _death_. It doesn't seem like you really felt too _bad_ about doing that."

"Er, yes. About that. I can't really say much other than... well, I was stupid. And I know that is a very, ah, lame excuse, but I have no other to give you. And if it is of any condolence, I really am truly sorry."

"Yeah, well 'sorry' doesn't cut it, Ian." Curious, she no longer stuttered.

"I suppose I understand. If I were you I would most likely feel the same way." There was a long, dark silence.

"Would you like me to leave?" Ian asked awkwardly.

"Yes, please." Amy said. Ian's heart sagged just a bit. He was beginning to get up when Amy put her hand on his arm. "Actually, no."

"Okay, well..."

She looked at him with her penetrating green eyes. "Are you really sorry for leaving me in a cave?" she asked quietly.

"Yes, I've told you, I really am."

"Well... I know that I am really stupid for forgiving you, and don't think that I'm doing this because you are _you_, I'm doing this because no matter how evil you are, and no matter how much you want to take over the world, you are still a person. And people deserve second chances. So... I guess I can forgive you." She buried her head in her fabric-covered knees. "I am such an idiot."

"Not as big an idiot as me,"

"That's true," Amy laughed. They were quiet again, but this time it wasn't a heavy silence. It was a light, nice silence. "What do you think will happen when someone finds us under here?"

"Let's hope they don't." Ian smirked.

"Maybe we should get up..."

"I suppose. People will accuse me of being antisocial."

"Yeah. I guess so."

Ian lifted a bit of the tablecloth and peeked out. "The coast is clear," he said. "It seems as though everyone is moving into the dining room. A perfect time to make our move."

"You sound like a spy," Amy laughed. But Ian looked at her in such a way that she sobered. "Oh. I get it. You... are a spy..."

"Well, a Lucian anyway, and that's close enough," he corrected, smiling wistfully as they discreetly crept out from under the table.

At seeing this smile, Amy's insides went into even more of a turmoil. She didn't know whether she should believe him or not. Sure, she had forgiven him, but that didn't mean that he could be trusted. She was torn in two. She wished she could believe him, but when she remembered how she felt when he left her in a cave, she didn't want to let her guard down.

She knew that the smart thing to do would be to leave immediately, and prevent him from toying with her any more, if he really was toying with her.

But she didn't. She pushed the thoughts out of her brain and went to eat with all the others.

This proved to be a big mistake.

Amy sat down at a table in the only open seat: between Ian and Natalie. Dan was sitting at another table with Alistair and a couple of teenaged boys who were laughing and joking.

"You look lovely, darling," said an old woman she did not know.

"Thank you." Amy replied, giving a slight smile.

Ian drew her into a conversation about something or another, and they had a lovely time for about an hour. The food was delicious, and the people seemed remotely nice, for Lucians anyway. She didn't notice Natalie whisper something to the woman who'd complimented her, and she didn't notice that same woman slip Natalie a vial a few moments later.

She did notice when Natalie tried to pour the contents of that vial into her glass of punch.

"What are you doing?!" Amy cried in outrage. "What is that?"

Natalie dropped the vial and asked, "What is what?"

"Oh, you know. That _poison _that you were pouring into my drink! I can't believe this," She got up from her chair. The whole room was staring at her. "I can't believe that I gave you a second chance, I even started to trust you, and you... you... you _POISONED_ MY _DRINK_!" She shook her head. "This was a huge mistake. I'm leaving." She looked at Dan, who rose and walked out of the room. "Goodbye." With that, she stormed out of the room.

"Well, what did she expect? We _are_ Lucians," the older lady shrugged.

"That isn't the answer to everything," Ian muttered as he got up to follow her.

"Amy, wait!" he cried as she stepped onto the bottom stair of the front steps.

"What do you want, Ian? Haven't you had your fun? Play with my emotions, and get rid of me. Well, you've done your job- you've gotten rid of me. I never want to see you again!" She began to hurry away, when he caught her wrist.

"Please! I had nothing to do with it! I didn't even know that they were planning this! I would have stopped it if I'd known!"

"Why should I believe you?" she shouted.

"Because I am not lying!" he replied, just as loudly.

"Do you think I'm stupid? Don't answer that! Anyway, of course you're lying!" she fought back.

"How can you know that?"

"_You're a Lucian!_" she screamed. She shook her arm free of his grasp and ran to her car as she was enveloped by the night.

Ian sat on the step where she had stood.

"That isn't the answer to everything."

**Yep. I'm dramatic. Go me. **

**Anyways, I haven't read this series in, like….a REALLY long time. I probably stopped after the Kurt book, (Book 7) because seriously how do they expect people to keep up? How many books are there now, like twenty? Also, this story was written probably around after I had finished book three or four, so it's super out of date. Oh well. **

**Bacon, guys, bacon.**

**Goonies never say die!**


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